Geburtstag

Today marks 23rd year since I went through the birth canal.

My birthday is like the picture above ~ warm and colourful. with the people i love.
There is a yummy cake on the table, accompanied by my favourite food.
My dad is pouting with twinkle in his eyes, my mom is smiling and my brothers are teasing me with "you are old!"
I make my prayer, blow the candles, cut up the cake and ask my loved ones for their prayers as well.
My mom is the first to shower me with kisses and envelopes me in a warm embrace. and I say my thanks for  bringing me into the world.
Then I go and hug my dad and receives his stubby pecks.
My brothers bought me presents.
And we feast on my mom's delicious homecooked meal.

Except that all the above is just a mirage. I am actually spending my birthday alone, on my bed and haven't been speaking to a soul except my mom who called me when I was sleeping to wish me happy birthday. Obviously there's no cake because I am too lazy to go out and I ate the food from yesterday and had coco crunch for dinner. Whatever. Happy birthday to me. May Allah makes me an incredible Muslimah, bless my life, shower me with wisdom and integrity and let me die as a faithful servant. ameen.

It reminds me of Chris birthday.
On his birthday, I went for a day trip to Konstanz.
Konstanz is not that far away actually, but since there's Black Forest in between Konstanz and Freiburg, the journey is quite long.
I shall write about Konstanz sometime after.
Anyway, I got home (Chris and Iva's) past midnight and was rather hungry.
Turns out the lovebirds haven't gone to sleep.
They came and accompanied me for dinner.
Iva baked 2 types of cakes for Chris (lucky boy I know) ~ apple crumble and marble cake
When I was about to spoon the apple crumble, Iva suddenly remember that she put some alcohol in it but assures me that the alcohol has dissipated, so it is safe to eat it. (But now, after some research, I make a stand to not eat anything mixed with alcohol)
So I ate it. and I can detect the taste and smell of alcohol in my mouth.
So I went after the marble cake, which is really delish.
Must say Iva's is rather good at baking.

Oh no. I just miss them and their place. =)

In Their Shoes

I think I've been way too comfortable after high school. I need to be out of the box. I need to be challenged.
This exchange seems to be offering just what I need and how true it is.

I found out the terrible feeling of being there but not knowing what people in front of you are talking about. Because they talk in a language alien to me. I have been on the other side of the table eversince I came to Czech. I casually switch into Malay in the conversation where my non Malay speaking friend is also there, involved in the conversation. Now that I have been to both sides of the table, I try to speak the language that everyone understand.

I've been to almost all of the morning meetings, which are conducted in German. I was asked to be there.
So I know the feeling of that poor thing that's invited to the event where everyone is speaking the language alien to the poor thing, eventhough they have the ability to speak in English, which everybody knows.

When I went to the suturing class, which is of course conducted in German, I joined a class where everyone has been together eversince few years back. I am just someone coming with the surgeon, and sit with the students. I said my greetings. and sit back feeling out of place. So when an exchange student was standing there alone and others were happy chatting away, I remembered what I felt and went to greet her. The thing that I learnt is that it is nice if people are being welcoming especially when you are alone coming into a pack of people that already know each other.

And one of the many things that I learnt from Chris and Iva is that to offer the guest help and explaining directions. They both went miles to help me. giving a real map. finding where the worship place is. recommending where to shop and many many more.


I'm glad that I went out of my comfort zone. I learnt a lot, both professional skill and interpersonal skill. But I gotta admit that this is not for everyone. You gotta pull yourself together and be open to challenges. In conclusion, be a tough cookie.

National Service Program

Before I went, I got an email asking me if I would like to join something called National Service Program.
It will be held in Freiburg itself.
Includes hiking trip in Black forest and one of the things that we need to bring is ~ bathing suit (possibility to swim in a lake)
Also barbecue.
It sounds too good to be true and of course I say yes.
Plus since I am in Freiburg itself, I am spared from travelling to the National Service Program.

You can say that the program is a blast though the weather wasn't on our side (and it was always raining only on weekends the first 2 weeks of July, whch is not normal at all for Freiburg) and I didn't go to say goodbye on Sunday because of abdominal cramps.


On Friday, we went to a stadium (or something like that) that right smack next to the black forest. Met the other exchange students coming in from places like Tubingen and Heidelberg and Munster.
And we got a bag of goodies each and it sure has a lot of things inside.
Among others
thick notebook
pens
nescafe 3-in-1
stick note
gummy bear
expired condom



 Had meet and greet session before we moved to the main agenda, city tour, with none other than Chris. Chris is someone who loves to share what he knows so he really made a good guide.
Among what I got are
One of the apostle is showing his butt in the direction of the house of some one who did something that irk the townspeople?don't remember anymore
The red and gold signifies Austria.
In the medieval time, in the marketplace,as to make measurement for the things they sell, among others, they drew circle to size bread and a line.
Thing is that being visitors we were moving really slowly and taking pictures.
And German being German, is irked by the pace.

It was raining when we make our way up to Schlossberg.
After realising that we are going up the hill, I told them "you said hiking is tomorow?"
Apparently climbing up to Schlossberg and then up the tower stairs isn't hiking!
And to add spice to thing, for God sake, I am wearing my white hospital pants. add rain and muddy earth on top of that.

Photo from Jaime. Look Emina is even wearing cute flats.

Photo from Mohamed. On the tower.

Thanks Lord the view makes up for it.
And the people. except for the ones who shake the tower. grrr!

We make our way to "student summer festival" for dinner afterwards.
Was stuck because we were being a lil bit busybody near the Fischerau that has the crocodile (a stone one) in it. There is some anti-Nazi demonstration going on.
Quite a sight.

Not only that, we even have to make a detour once because they found a bomb from World War 2 during construction. Apparently, such thing is not uncommon in German land. I learnt a lot about German and Germany in a span of 2 weeks compared to what I learned about Czech and Czech Republic in a span of 4 years.

And finally, we are at the student summer festival. once again, culture shock.
This people is what student summer festival means in Germany

My glass was only filled with pepsi okay.hehehe

One thing deserve mentioning is the grilled feta. so delish. tried to make it twice in October. FAILED.

Travel Cost

Freiburg is an excellent location.
Paris is 3 hours away by TGV.
Colmar is an hour train ride. But u can always stop by Breisach am Rhein to see the majestic Rhein river.
Basel, is also an hour away, while Luzern is 2 hours away.
Except if you want to travel east, like Iva said, the Black Forest is always in the way.
I went to Konstanz and never regret taking the train that crosses the Black Forest. It's so scenic.

Our farewell trip. I had blast travelling with them. Photo from Nicky.

Anyway, travel is rather expensive in Germany.
And the train network is so sophisticated that the bus is forgotten.
I only travel on weekends so my best choice is Baden-Wurttenberg ticket.
If you are travelling alone, the ticket costs 21 euro. add 4 euro for additional person. you can add up to 4 more person.
Best for day trip and group travel.

When I went to Luzern, the girls were already away, so I travel alone.
Had to rush to get my ticket printed out at the counter and pay extra for that.
If you can afford it, get a smartphone or tab ~ that is one precious thing to traveller.

The thing u do when u trael alone. Self camera or ask any stanger who is willing to click the camera for you.

When we travelled, we brought our own food because food is on the expensive side especially in tourist spot.
Most of my travelling were done during Ramadhan and eventhough I have the option to replace it, I opted out of it.
Except when I decided to hike the foot of Pilatus, I went to Migros and paid for ice tea and croissant. ~ 5 euro that saves me after a tedious hike (crazy thing I did. I know.)

All in all, try to not travel alone. It's more expensive. and bring your own food and fruits and drink.

Food

On my second day, Iva's made me spatzle sauce. I really like the sauce.
I got 50 euro every week.
I ate rice oce a week. Bought the ones in the sack. You see I never master cooking the rice sans rice cooker.

For breakfast, I ate bread and drank milk or juice.
I go German with my lunch. sometimes I take it but since Xavier left I didn't do lunch anymore. Plus my last week, it was Ramdhan.
Lunch normally is with schoki (really nice Schwarzwald/Blackforest choc milk) and bretzel. I really love bretzel smeared with cream cheese spinkled with chives and salad and tomato.
Had hot meal once at the casino. Don't know how to say enough in German so I ended up finishing quarter of my cheese gnocci after so much effort.
And my friends in opthalmology do lunch everyday. oh the joy of having a partner in crime with you.

Dinner is a lil bit complicated because I have to come out with what to cook.
I love it epecially when I sit down with Iva and Chris for dinner.
I would nicked their food and they mine.
Once I made curry and was so concerned the smell may be too overhelming for my housemates but they said it smells good.
I found my new love for tomato salad. They made really delish tomato salad.
Most of the time, I made aglio olio spaghetti with birds eye chilli. Iva's surprised to see the amount I threw in. Well, that's typical Penangites for you babe =)
I took away food from markthalle twice. The last one smell strongly of tumeric.
Iva's allergic to ANY NUTS and I have offered nuts twice to her unintentionally. First the rice cooked with nuts and then the stir fried vege with tofu. Thanks to her, I hope I am more alert about allergy issue.

iftar 2nd day of Ramadhan

I have a range of supermarket to choose from. I like Aldi and I went to Ariana Orient House a couple of times to get the meat and some dose of Asian ingredients. Theoretically, I only spent 100 euro on groceries. Admittedly, it's cheaper if you cooked because a plate of mixed potatoes costs 10 euro.

First Day of Ramadhan

It was a Friday and the next week shall be my last week.
I had bihun sup for sahur.

If I remember it well, the day is not like any other day I was in the department.
When I was doing venepuncture on this man that speaks English, the sound of helicopter taking off muffled our conversation.
"This is the third time today. and it's just 9 am"
I remember seeing this new man looking all unwell but I went on with the venepuncture.

I scrubbed in for an operation that I don't remember anymore and returned to Zenker.
Dr Weiskopf and a cardiologist was there and the situation didn't seem good.
"Remember this. It's myocardial infarction" she showed me the ECG.
Turned out it's of that man that was looking very fragile this morning.

It's a rather busy Friday.
And I have another operation scheduled at ~6 pm.
I asked Dr Reinisch for an hour or two break.
I went to Ariana Orient House to get some dates and drinks and whats not (where the fresh fruits and veges section almost empty), dumped everything at home and return to the empty Zenker.
I scrubbed in and went to see the operation schedule.
The digital one was down and they only have papers stuck on the board, obviously all written in German.
I got one of the scrub nurse to tell me whats going on and returned to Zenker to clarify with anyone there.
Turned out Dr Matthias was there.
I had the option to go home but since "help is highly appreciated", and the fact that I was already prepared for surgery, I opted to stay.
Turned out it's a really interesting surgery with amusing team.
And the patient is........ the man who had MI earlier that day.

We started at half past 7. I have always feel some distance from Dr Sudkamp. He is after all the obarztin, which means he's one of the high rankings. That he is always wearing the same face expression doesn't help either but surprise!surprise! he's really nice. Further explanation will ensue.
We started up very nicely. I had been in a surgery where Imi was also the scrub nurse. I had always wanted to ask where she comes from since she did the same to me. So I asked on that operation. She's from Philliphines. and the question where you are from jumped from one to another. I am Malaysian, studying in Czech Republic and interning here *insert further explanation*

When the heart is exposed, I noticed that it's bigger than the other hearts I've seen during the weeks that had passed. And yes, it's not normal.
The second surgeon harvested the leg vein and I was opposite the head surgeon who's harvesting RIMA.
I had been in quite a number of bypass operation but this one is where I learned the most.
You had to take off the clip and replace it with suture. and there's more than 12 clips on the venous graft alone. Flush the saline into the graft to see if there's any leakage. You have to repair it.
Then time by time as the graft is joined to the coronary vessel, you have to flush again to see if the anastomoses are leaked.

There's a number of other procedures done and when the second procedure was completed, the iftar time has long passed. It was not until 12 midnight that the chest is temporarily closed.
The head surgeon offered for anyone to take a break.
I stayed in my gown for quite sometime but after the explanation about the reperfusion time, which will take no less than 20 minutes, I got out of my gown and headed for the break room.
Man, everybody had finished and the break room was empty and urm, eerie but nah, the devils are supposed to be in hell.
I reached for the empty pocket. I really wanted to get something from the vending machine but my coins are all in the locker room in Zenker. Which means I have to change out of my scrub, fetched the coin and get into new scrub if I want to get them. So yeah, I broke my fast with the water from the sink.
Amazingly, I didn't feel fatigue. Ironically I was really pumped out.

I gowned in again for whatever left to be done. And whatever left to be done was really tense and the atmosphere during the second session was really tight *inside stories*. The surgery didn't show any sign that it's going to end soon. With heavy heart, I asked to go home when the clock showed 240 am. I had the permission to go anytime I want but I really want to stay until the end. I reached home just in time to perform jamak taakhir and munched something for sahur before the break of dawn.

I was up at 8 the next morning and spent the whole Saturday sleepy, and walking in the cold and rainy Stuttgart. It was really cold I just had to buy a jumper from H&M. Thanks Allah for summer sale! Oh yeah, they wrapped off the operation sometime past 4 am and the patient was sent to ICU for postop care.

The Weekday

I would wake up at half past 6, shower, breakfast and walk to the department.
My housemates rose later so I rarely get to see them before I leave.
Anyway, I like my morning walk to the department.
The department being at the other end of the ground is compensated by big trees lining the pathway.

I would change in the nurse locker room and make my way to the meeting room.
To be honest the time between 730am to the end of the meeting is the time where I am nervous.
Being alone never scare me except during these time.
I would stand at the corner and look straight ahead because I understand no German and the meeting is conducted fully in German.
I hate not knowing so I guess it's the fact that everybody in the room knows the substance of discussion except me that trigger the out of place dilemma.
Plus, I have never been to any department meeting in my life as a medical student.
And then, I am here in my first meeting, conducted in a language alien to me.
I calculated over the trivia thing like, should I sit at the chair or when I am sitting in one, I felt guilty.
Whatever, I'm glad it has long past.

After the meeting I'd darted to the basement to swap my uniform with a new fresh one or I'll just go around Zenker as a small vampire.
I had the option to be in the ward meeting but I opted out of it because it's also in German.
Actually, the exchange is wonderful but because I know no German, it's quite significant let down.

Blood taking is the very thing that they expect you to do.
On the day I went to Europa Park with the girls, I went to the department solely to do the blood taking before I head for the train station.
No complaints there because I like it when I have something to do.
Since I am in surgery department, I made countless visit to the operation room.

On my first week, I just go into any operation room that I fancy and stay at the anesthesiologist side.
The thing that I love about doing internship in Germany is that you get to do many practical things, and I am offered to scrub in.
The surgeons are generally willing to teach me and answer my questions, saved for one or two. =p
Starting from second week, my name is assigned for surgeries, which means I can ditch the ward works and scrub in to assist.
Problem is I was not given the password to access the system (I asked for it and the man rejected my request) and the OS is in German so I made a lot of hopeful guess.
I had to bother others to help me and it ain't comfortable for both parties. I got scolded once just because I kindly ask for a doctor with a please to put in the password so that I can check at what time is the surgery (sometimes they move the time so you have to check). She was writing discharge letter and I had disturb her concentration.

I learned to scrub in by Dr Siepe and Minchen because they do it differently in Germany.
"Put your head as far away from the pipe when washing your hands"
"too high, too low"
"put your hands together and away from your chest"
Oh, I discover my glove size to be 6.
And after gowning, go latch youself to the side o the patient and put your hands on your epigastric or rest them on the patient.
I shall make a post solely about assisting.

If I am not in the operation room, I'll find things to do in the ward.
Mostly, they are written on the board in the doctor's room.
ECG
Vigo
Full blood taking for new admission
and that's all. Not much.
So I resorted to practise suturing in my second week and trying to translate the patient files.
Translating documented German papers is quite ok since German has many similar words to English.

Usually if there's no operation, or anything else to do, and Dr Reinisch is there it's "go away and enjoy the sun"
and I'll gladly pack up and walk out into the sun.
I usually go to Old town and discover new things or go home and surf the net.
That's the minus thing about beng the only exchange student in the department.
I'd love to go and play in Seepark and doing group things.

So that pretty sums up my weekday.

Strasbourg

On the first weekend, we joined the ERASMUS students on a day trip to Strasbourg.

Strasbourg is the main city for Alsace region in France but throughout history has been changing their nationality between being French and German.

The train station is quite a sight.
We went straight to the dock to go on the tourist boat.
I am more to independent travelling but I don't mind changing to accommodate when travelling in group.
Anyway, we have 40 minutes extra before the boat, so we walked back the charming street and made a stop.

a small scoop of ice cream for 2 euro, if I remember it correctly.

An Erasmus guy followed us.
Aida : What's your name?
Erasmus : Niko.
Aida : oh.hahaha. in Montenegroean, niko means nobody.

I swear by the timberhouses that she didn't mean to offend him. You can tell by the tone but we had to suppress our laughter.

Anyway, we went window shopping in the shops.
Alsace is famous for these

bundtcake/kugelhopf mould, the oval pot, tableclothes.

Well, as a fan of anything kitchen utensils, I highly consider buying them but was reasoned out by the fact that I am going to Colmar and baggage limitation because I'm flying back.

We then go on the boat trip. Nothing much to say it was a typical tourist thing. But for sure most of your pictures taken from the boat will look like these

the most photographed building in Strasbourg

After the bot trip we have an A4 size black and white map each and 4 hours. The first obstacle is the Asian shop selling beautiful pieces for a fractionated price. And I have 3 girls with me who don't mind the long q to the fitting cube and can only see the stuff inside the shop. Reading the map is rather tricky and after what seems like forever, we reached petite France to

- go into the souvenir shop for some shopping

- take picture with the sign

- sample and buy biscuits from the redflag bakery

- go into Asian shop and torn between buying the frozen stuff or not (all fingers pointing to me)

The signboard is typical for the region. They are in Freiburg too.

We were supposed to meet others at the restaurant and were runnig late.

Problem is, according to the map we are like at the other end. wisest choice is to walk along the river of which we did.

Then as we were turning into the street for the restaurant, we made few "come back, it's this way"

We went into the restaurant just as everyone is finishing their flamkuchen/Tarte flambée.  we ordered one for ourselves but I must say that the ones the BVMD made for international dinner is far better. We chat away and the girls arranged to meet the Spanish for some festival back in Freiburg later in the evening (FYI, they didn't find each other eventhough both parties went for it)

The thing that you have to know about the German is that they are not only punctual, but they also stride faster.

We were catching the train, which is like at the other end of the place and I stepped on banana skin. Just what I need!

We managed to catch our train back.

Conclusion is I take note that my further trips during the exchange will start no earlier than 9 am. 10 am seems to be the ideal time to take the train. They asked me how was the trip. I'd say it's average and I don't get to really wander the town because the time is too short. I think Colmar is less crowded, less touristy and more beautiful.

 

Vocabulary

I went on the exchange not even knowing what one is in German.
I came out of the exchange knowing just 2 numbers in german ~ein, drei

anyway, here's the words that I catched on during my brief stay
1. Scheiße.  I heard a lot of it in and out of the hospital. To think that I don't know a single Czech curse after 4 years and picking up German's curse word in less than a month.
2. genau. In case you don't know, I was in most of the half an hour morning meeting conducted fully in German. Only that I need to grow balls to mouth out the word genau as I like in the meeting.
3 ach so. refer to the comment above
4. guten morgen
5. tschüs
6. mein liebe gott I remember this one because it replaced Scheiße after the situation turned very tense during the late night emergency operation
7. danke because honestly it's ok if you don't know what 1 is in other language but not knowing thank you in other language is unthinkable.
8. bitte it's equal to "u r welcome". can also be used as excuse me i.e. you zoned out and didn't even hear what the other person is talking about. so you say bitte and the person will kindly repeat what he/she just said

9. achtung I swear by the ECG sticker it washes off the machoness of hewhoshallnotbenamed when he said this word
10. blut because I go around sucking people blood
11. kleine vampirette. refer num 10
12. nein
13. schwein
14. fleisch
15. montag, dienstag, mitwoch, donnerstag, freitag,samstag,sonnstag
16. klein
17. gross

The figure : das ist gross. the zeppelin balloon : das ist klein

18. assistentarzt/assistentarztin . arzt/arztin (a notch up the career ladder), obarzt/obarztin (the big fishes)
19. famulant/famulantin oh it's me!
20. herzzentrum
21. kinder

But can you believe it?I still don't know the apology in German. To think of the veins that I missed and the nerve that my needle touched.

Heartmate

The first week of my internship involves a lot of getting-to-know. I am fortunate enough to have learnt about heartmate from Dr Weiskopf. Heartmate basically is a device that help your heart ventricle to pump the blood. She also taught us about the artificial heart.

In Zenker itself we have patients wearing heartmate. I was always careful to not dislodge anything because heartmate includes thick tubes of blood.
One good thing is that you can be homebound eventhough you are lugging the device around (actually, it's a device plus machine so the size is quite something)
Anyway, there's such a case where a man took the chance and hook up with the prostitute.
I don't remember, but I think something from the device (the tubes maybe) came off.
He died that instant.
They all said that he died nicely.

I'd rather keep my opinion to myself but I'm taking note to tell any of my patient that has to go on with such a device to steer clear of intercourse.

Woody Business

My German housemates told me

when discussing something bad, German would knock 3 times on anything wood. They believe such act can ward the thing off them.

Example
Peah : Someone jumped from the train and our train had to stop.
Usop : That happens sometime. Some people who want to commit suicide *knock 3 times on wood counter top*

They do it unconsciously and if they don't tell it to me. I would never in my 5 weeks notice it.
It came as a surprise for me when I caught Iva doing it and pointed it out.

Ka-ching!

I forked out quite a lot for the exchange.
We're required to pay a lump of 8000kc. mayb sth like fee, to our local IFMSA. My friends from Montenegro paid lesser to theirs.

A chunk was swapped for a nice Canon G12. Don't give me that look. Think of it as a present to self after finishing 4 years in medical school.

But most important of all, I got 50 Euro pocket money per week and in term of food, I hardly spent half of it a week. Oh yeah, I ate like a quarter of the usual. Filling breakfast. Occassionally heavy dinner. Sometime I do lunch. And amazingly, I'm far from hungry.

The feeling is always good when you get money.

Apart from the pocket money, BVMD supplement about 50 euro for activities. Mine was spent on Mugorsky concert (8euro) and NSP fee (30 sth Euro).

Don't ask. I don't remember why she got only 20 Euro.

U'd do the math and found out that I still have 10 euro plus to be spent. I'd just close my eyes and pretend that I don't see it because
~
~
~
~
on my first day, Iva handed me a decent nokia phone with 10euro credit. Which is very great because when you reload, you reload minimum of 20 euro and hey, I am not going to use that much in a month.

I can say that I am very lucky.
Jaime was promised a bike but turned out the bike doesn't fit her and they just forget about it. And she had to look out for ticket inspector everytime she's on tram.

Monotesticular

On Saturday evening during the NSP, after a half day hiking at Black forest, we barbecued some meats.
*George, one of the IFMSA guys was not there because he went to the ball.

Aynur asked me where is George. So I said "He has ball".
Aynur repated what I said thoughtfully. Fortunately, I caught what he interpreted after he said ball and not balls.

The damage however is done.
It became the talk of the NSP people.
Conclusion of the incident, George has the monotesticular title conferred upon him.
"George is a monotesticular man" was repeated so many times.
Good thing is that NSP ended on the Sunday afternoon.

The board who conferred the title with the title holder at the place of incident.

*George is not the true name of the guy involved. George, is a name borrowed from the crow that we tried to entice during the BBQ evening.
Photo by Christine G.

Oh Boze!

The first time I hear oh boze! I thought it sounds like oh bullshit. Jaime couldn't stop mouthing the exclamation because she also thinks the same XD.

Anyway, both applied when my hardly thought out and carefully written post that is not even an hour old vanished into nothingness.
Oh my, what am I to do?
Kiss the cow!

Veins, Needles and Such

Interning in a German hospital means unlimited opportunity to poke people.
Truthfully, before coming, I did only one venepuncture on a healthy young man. All thanks to the casted hand during our one month hematology practical in Physiology.

When I came to Germany, the doctor showed me briefly how to do it.
For the next few days, I did a few venepuncture supervised by Minchen.
And on the second week, Minchen is replaced by a no nonsense intern. "we'll divide the bloodtaking so that it'll not take long"

I went to prepare the basin, with my heart thumping.
By the time I was at the door, my hearing shut down.
Tourniquet on the arm. Disinfecting done. Preparing the needle and then poking.
The blood came in. Phew.
Then the second hardest thing has to be done ~changing the tube without having the needle out.
By the time I am done, I left an impression of the needle wings on the skin. at least no violet flower.

I missed the vein of second patient, twice.
Can't personally afford to do it the third time.
I was like a ghost poking people with cold hands.
But, no-nonsense intern, thank you, because at the end of that day, I am one confident klein vampirette. And Minchen, thank you. I couldn't do it without the basics.
No nonsense intern also put up with my numerous requests to be with me when I am doing vigo.
"Can you come and help me doing vigo?"
"But I've shown you twice"
You see that I don't casually call someone no nonsense. (And FYI, I am full of nonsense. Definitely a tybe B)
Anyway, I am glad that I insisted although I have to be thick skin. Because doing it supervised for few times is a bonus. You catch what should and should not be done once and for all.

After my second week
~ I even went to the ward for the sole purpose of taking blood before leaving for Europa park
~ the old woman who won't even look at me in the first few encounters accepted my visits. although I would not leave out that I prepare tissues to wipe off her tears and pat her. it is a personal satisfaction.
~ a man who initially wave at me when I was in the nurse station won't even look at me and let me take his blood after I did the unsuccessful vigo on him. I am sorry uncle, doesn't mean it. I guess we are both unlucky.

After my internship, my people watching hobby become more specific. In fact, when I was looking at a picture of wedding ring exchange, I was thinking, ahhh they've got nice vein. Vigo will not be a pain on the ass.

Klein Vampirette

The patients gave me nickname ~~ klein vampirette. which means small vampire.
From where I come, no one ever address me as small. I know some people who would laugh until apnea if they know about it.

Well, the name came from the fact that I went around every morning asking for their blood. and I am of normal height by German standard, hence the klein. but you can also think that it's because I'm just a famulantin the lowest rank in doctor's pyramid

Now I go around noticing veins on people arm and thinking "ah, this one is nice and easy to poke" or "wow, the vigo would go in breezely in that vein". I know it's weird.

The Rights

Well, if you don't know, EU had this "bright" idea to upgrade the quality of chicken's rights.
That is they passed a law so that the chicken get to live in a better cage. It requires all commercial eggs to be hatched by chickens kept in “free-range barns or enriched cages".

which means, as soon as the law was enforced, the price of eggs went rocketing towards the blue,blue sky.
and it was enforced just sometime before Easter in Czech Republic.
Great timing no? actually no.it's horrible because I have yet to buy those Easter eggshells

Anyway, I am not so much into the modern animal rights.
Yeah, I am all for respecting animal but I treat chicken, cow, fish, crabs, goat like they should be.
I have no reserve to enjoy them in another form on my plate.
That is one of their function.
And so says me.

So when we went for my first grocery shopping in Germany, I notice that the eggs are fairly cheaper than their counterpart in Czech Republic.
So I asked Iva if they have increase in egg price too. and also giving my opinion about all the buzz
It's not that I forgot that Freiburger especially the students are ecoconscious.
I am one too.
It's just that I have no inkling that they are really really deep into it.
And so Iva says she has no problem spending a lil bit more if the chicken get to live more comfortably. or something like that.

I wish that I can live again in an environment that adopt recycling.

And I was raised in a village environment that picking fruits from trees and digging tapioca from the bush is ok.
In Czech Republic, the Czech even go out into the woods to hunt down the mushrooms.
So I asked Iva if it's ok to pick the fruit.
They've never tried it and highly recommended the ones from the supermarket.

You oughn't worry. Bought these from Lidl

 

It's really interesting to live and learn others way of thinking and culture. and I used to think Central Europe countries share many traits. How very wrong I was.

Cardiovascular Surgery

I was placed in this department for my clinical practise.
Got rather a lot from interning in this department.
The most bizarre one is the ability to stand in a meeting where everything is conducted in German.
It's rather difficult you know.
You don't know what the heck they are talking about. It doesn't help when I was the only person in the room who speaks no German. And then they laugh, and suddenly things went quiet. Whatever it is.
I was in the morning meeting almost everyday except on weekends and on the day I went to Legoland with the girls exceptional couple of days


I was placed in ward named Zenker.
For unknown reason they name the wards according to notable physicians.
And there's no room number 13 because they think 13 is a bad omen.
On my first day, I somehow ended up with Dr Julia Weiskopf.
She showed me around the ward, brought me to the underground to get my uniform (you can change it how many time you like.)
I got a name tag with famulantin written under my name.
On the first day I would advise you to get your doctor sit down and go through what you are supposed to do, what they can teach you, what you want them to teach you and what you can't do.
I didn't do that since the surgeons don't even have time to eat proper lunch but I highly urge you to do as suggested. I spent quite a number of days feeling like a parasite. Geez, one day I got really frustrated that I shut myself in the locker room and began drafting for blogpost.

I got in as some virgin in blood taking and setting the line.
I swear by the syringe that I am as nervous as I am going for my first exam in medical school the first time I went and took the blood independently.
By the second week, everyone knows the klein vampirette is here for their blood whenever I come into their room in the morning.
I owed Jasmin Wulf and Xavier Bemtgen for the skills. They are both supportive in their own ways.
I stupidly scrape my finger when I tried to get the butterfly needle from it's pack when rounding with Minchen.
And Bemtgen is so serene saying that the best vein is the easiest one to miss when you are attempting vigo on it. And pointing that I forgot to press on the vein before taking out the cap.
And not forgetting Dr Matthias and Dr Beatrice Reinisch for demonstrating vigo.

German Housemates

I am lucky enough to get to live with the Germans.
Iva is a Freiburg native and like any other Freiburger is very proud of Dreisam river XD
Naturally for a guy, size does matter.
But Freiburger Iva retorted with "at least we have a river.and it's ours."

They tell me interesting facts about Black Forest
Do you know once upon a time, almost all Black Forest trees were cut down
That all the trees you see now is the effort of them to regrow the forest. That the trees planted are the types that grow fast.
Or do you know there's no bear in Black Forest and why?
Because the Germans kill them before they can kill the Germans
"How about wolves?", I asked.
"Maybe there's 4 or 5 of them and you'll have to be really really unlucky to meet them"
And that Schauinsland, which is 3 bits out of town means to look into the land. and how true that name stands.



I am all for recycling and practising it with ecoconscious housemates just make me happy.
Although I don't know if the feeling is mutual XD
There's a bin for biologic waste.
And I can get deposit from recycling the plastic bottles. If they practise this in Czech Republic, I'd hauled in hundreds of crowns already but the Czech is too proud of their status as no 1 beer drinker, so they only give deposit for glass bottles.
And 2 separate bin bags. Which I never figure out which is for which.
Chris told me that in Stuttgart, they even separate different type of papers.



Iva is allergic to all type of nuts and I never go a week without going nut.
And to remember how many times I offered her food with nuts : the stir fry veges with tofu, the pilaf with soybean.
Luckily we didn't need any epipen or resuscitation.

The breads!
Brotchen, bretzel.
They are as hard as the breads in Czech.
Iva told me how she missed the hard German bread when she was in America, the land full with soft, fluffy bread.
And I am all for our fluffy roti Benggali and fluffy breadloaf.
Chris knows a lot and really like to pass the knowledge around.
I never give a thought about the history of croissant.
Croissant is not French as I thought, but rather, is Austrian.

We were rather busy keeping out with our own activities.
The plan to play petanque never get executed but we went to a classic concert.
Chris loves classic music. He even brief me with the help of youtube about the piece.
And me, let's stick to the fact I do enjoy orchestra.
The main piece of the evening is "Pictures at an Exhibition" composed by Muggorsky.
As a matter of fact, Muggorsky lost his marbles sometime before he expired.
The ticket costed something around 8 Euro and BVMD paid for me (I am purposely telling you this *wink*)

Sometimes we eat together, which is very entertaining.
For I got to spoon out their salad+green olive/marvellous tomato salad/delish corn salad. God, the German does eat a lot of salad. It's a shame I wasn't able to dish out our marvellous kerabu for them.
And they on the other hand got to eat fiery chillies/chicken curry ala moi/the coconut coated sagu.

And we would be stuck to the tables discussing the different types of patriotisms in Germany.
On how the Berlin is poor but sexy.
Hijabs.
The pope, who happens to be from German.
Contraception. and if it's forbidden in our respective religions.
The Vatican scandals.
Arab Spring.
Aortic aneurysm.oh yes, we are medical students alright.
Chris working as ambulance driver.
And what does genau and scheiße means. because I hear them more than often.
It was Ramadhan the last 2 weeks of my stay. I shall write about it later.
And the original way to cheers

It was very comfortable living with them.
And how fun it was when 2 XXs teased the only XY.
And when Iva pulled out a pair of sandals from her handbag and we exchanged knowing look. Chris, who didn't get it said it awes him how girls can just understand each other without talking.
Iva can be more relaxed now that I am in league with her. What league you asked?
It's league of the ladies that almost killed Chris's treasured coffee plant.
I hope Chris can still get his coffee in Gdansk and Iva her tea in Italy. (Don't you think they should exchange their placement?The Italians do know how to make coffee)

Why Do You Cheer Before You Drink

Or toast.or ganbei

In medieval times, the situation was ugly.
People kill people for gain. Not that it doesn't happen nowadays but it's far more intense back in those days.
It's more like Lord BlingBling decides that Count TheMoney is richer from him by one gold bar and therefore has to be killed.
There's vomitus poison and there's mango lassi alcohol and there's beautiful court ladies = banquet where Lord BlingBling can easily poison Count TheMoney.
I don't know, maybe those people had too much lard and boozes and messed up their frontal lobe, but after sometime, the poisoned drink idea became too popular.
And we all know over the top is definitely not the place to be.



Someone in the court still got their frontal lobe intact (I highly suspect it's one of the ladies).
Whatever it is, the toasting ritual is invented.
Here is how to do it correctly, feudal way

Raise your cup
Clash it with the other person's cup so that the drink in both cups intermixed. The goal is, you die I die.
Bottom up all the while looking into each other eyes.

Lesson learnt from my side : If I am in sticky situation, the original way to ganbei is handy.
I got to toast a lot in Germany (they do it the modern way so even drinking water is also eligible for toasting) but have always manage to put a blank expression before the glass raised to me. It sure take a lot of time getting used to =)

Altstadt

I spent most of afterwork wandering around the charming ol town

Tips : don't miss the Markthalle in this street. It's like stepping into Aladdin cave, except that the treasures are food instead of blinkblink

My Room

I fall in love at first sight. The moment I stepped into the room, I can't believe that I finally found a room that I've been coveting.

Never mind the fact that the original owner is a guy.
It has got a sofa bed. with a huugggeee world map on the wall
A roomy table with pigeonholes filled with various minis perched on the wall next to it.
A white rack where I stuffed my vanities and folded clothes.
A display glass cabinet.
andddddddd
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a KEYBOARD.
not that I am literate at playing it though.
The owner is a classical music lover so the music books read the ancient names only.

I am a slouch at decorating, so my space is all about practicality.
Well, there are the gifts from the people in my life sitting on the book rack, looking really out of place.
But this room has given me inspiration to tone down a bit the android personality of my own room.

There are about 4 lights in the room.
The ceiling IKEA lamp.
The multistemmed table lamp.
The study lamp.
And the star lamp.

I couldn't sleep in the dark back in Hradec so for the first few nights, I alternately lit up the table lamp and the starlamp.
But since I tried to comply with the ecoconscious spirit that runs deep in Freiburg, it seems that I sleep better in dark in Freiburg.

There were 2 posters stuck on the door and originally the arrangement is that when I sleep, I will face the posters.
The one on the bottom is Thieme poster.
But what I am more aware of is the top one.


Room is messy because I am unpacking.

Einstein skull!!!
I am not going to wake up in the middle of the night to that sight. Especially not when I wake up from nightmare.
So I made the wise choice and go to sleep and wake up to the scenery of Black Forest.

I don't live alone in the room.
There's 2 other occupants.
I nearly killed one of them. Unintentionally.
From what I heard, this unlucky one already survived worse near death at the hand of another lady.

Well the other occupants are the coffee plant and some type of plant that look like the head of pineapple.
The unlucky one is the former.
All it needs is regular watering and I don't even realise it lives with me to water him everyday.
Luckily Chris saw the flaccid leaves.
His horror face teamed with faint no!no!no! puzzled me.
It's not until Chris came back with the water spray and head for the pot that I realize what all the fuss is about.

I am deeply sorry for that.
But I didn't forget to catch the glimpse of it before I leave for good.
It looks healthy in the care of its owner.
Yeah, Chris took the plant into the other room, where the other lady is. =p
You can see the plant on the photo above.

Some of the collections

Exchange Students in Freiburg July 2012

Chilling by the Dreisam river

Picture from Jaime's collection

 

Picture from Nicky's collection



The Apartment

I wake up to the view of Black Forest and the windmills everyday <3

I live with the wonderful couple, Chris "Shepherd" and Iva "Bacon".
The apartment is 5 minutes away from the hospital but since the Heart Center is on the other end, the walk takes minimum 10 minutes.

The unit is on the topmost floor. Read = stargazing opportunities. yay!
It's small but enough for 3 ppl.
Has 2 bedrooms with cute kitchen and bathroom.

Pluspoint is that it has a balcony. Which means
sunbathing
chilling out with my fix of soda
cooling down during the warm summer nights.



I love the kitchen especially.
They painted a fraction of the wall red and I put my white handprint among the previous handprints on it. The visual is very cool.
And on top of it is a shelf full with alcohol bottles of various shapes and sizes ~ Chris loves collecting things and one is alcohol bottles.
Idk, if he don't mind other type of bottles I can send him the various ointment bottles we have in Malaysia =p
And if my weight doesn't show any improvement, I know I shall put the blame on the bowl on the table.
It never get empty despite countless hand-dipping by me and Chris ~ Chris's mom loves to buy chocolates but is too guilty to eat them.hah!

Arrival

I flew into Basel Euroairport with Swiss Air. I guess I can always hop on a bus from Prague which can be cheaper but the plane ticket price is quite reasonable. A night train is another option but it's more expensive than flight and takes much much longer.

Took the airport bus to Freiburg. I bought return ticket. You can also opt for carpooling, which I got to know later. Euroairport is just an hour away from Freiburg compared to Frankfurt which is 2 hours away by train.

The bus was stifling hot. It has no air conditioner so I got a free sauna for an hour in the middle of summer.

Iva, Chris's girlfriend was waiting for me at the station. I am to stay with both of them the whole exchange period. I lug my luggage to the bus stop which is ~200m away and took the bus with Iva to Bierenweg. It costed me 2.5 euro.

I was ushered into their tiny but amazing apartment and into my room for 5 weeks.
I am so excited at both and they deserve a post on their own.
I hate unpacking so after a much needed shower, Iva brought me to Lidl, which is next to the apartment building to do a compulsory grocery shopping.
I arrived on Saturday and all the supermarket closed on Sunday.

Afterwards, we went to Seepark, a fairly big park with a big manmade lake in the middle.
The closed aquatic centre is right next to the park.
People sunbathed, barbequed and relaxing.
There was a bridge with giant floated fibre balls where people stretch a line and do the walk on a thread thingie. Some jumped into the water from the bridge.
Everything look very similar to the living condition that I want.
However I don't think the lake water is good for swimming.

We walked back and I asked Iva if the fruit on the tree is edible.

I've never tried it.
We only eat the fruit we bought.
But if you want to eat the fruit from the tree, you have to wash it first because the fox peed on it.
It has sth to do with the parasite.
Those were what Iva told me.

The Outcoming

My local IFMSA stuck a notice on the board, listing the countries and the date and place of the English test.
I was ridiculing the fact that the English test is all it takes to qualify for the test.
I have no idea what they mean by English test.
I mean, hello, I am here alright. Do you think I should be here if my English doesn't suffice?

I have no idea that the English test is hard.
It's like I am taking DELF all over again, except this time I was listening to voice recording in English.
Do you know how horrible the quality is when it's amplified in a main lecture hall?
Plus I have to fill in the blanks in the paragraph.
I ditched that task more than 10 years and now at 22, I have to do it again.
Serve me right for ridiculing the test.

Anyway, I guess my mark is ok seeing that I am listed in the top 20.
Yes, they don't bother to put your mark. I guess they just want to make you feel better.
Apart from qualifying me for the exchange, I also got a paper saying that I pass my English test. Hello my English teachers! =)

So the priority to choose country is given to those with highest mark and so on.
That means if your mark is horrible, you either don't get a spot at all or you ended up with unpopular places.

You then pay a lump of 8000kc, fill in the forms electronically and on paper.
Requirements depends on the place that you want to go to.
The local team checked my documents and hand me a set of handbook, guidebook and identity card.

I did visa application and transportation independently. Basically the IFMSA people help about the accommodation and arrangement for the clinical practise in the hospital. I like the concept.

Where To Go

I know the grass is not necessarily greener on the other part but then I am sure the grass is different in other aspects.

Taiwan looks promising ~ fairly near Malaysia, more authentic Chinese culture. What set me back is the language. Mandarin sounds familiar but fact is I only read romanized alphabet and Arabic abjad. Chinese characters? Look yes, read no.

Then comes Indonesia. It's smacked next to Malaysia and I've never been there. We are traced to the same root but there's still significant difference in our culture. And the fact that I can eat most of the food and the mutually intelligible language, which means I can get the most out of the clinical practise.

I found out Korea has started offering places for exchange. Definitely a first choice. I fancy Korean culture and I know the best way to be involved is via living with the people, not just visiting the country.

Among all country offered, Germany is said to have the highest quality of exchange. That's the only enticing factor versus the list of cons ~ Euro, next to Czech Republic, most Germans don't fancy speaking English.

Greece has never made it on the list of country I want to go to. But I want to know why so many people want to go there.

And topping the list is Egypt. I've heard loads of story about it. I want to see the mummies, sail on the Nile, experience the rich culture.Surely, being a Muslim, going to Egypt is a bonus.

So where do I ended up?

Taiwan  picked by somebody with higher mark in the English test. Yeah English test. More on that later
Indonesia  Mom said no. Reasons ~ earthquake, the anti-Malaysian spirit running in most Indonesians
Korea  not found in the list
Germany! because the sole plus point it has. I see that sometime I can be very reasonable XD
Greece  the feedback I read is far from good. The quality is far below average ~ both of the practise and local committee
Egypt  the political unrest. just fresh after a very hot presidential election. so mom says no.

I know if I shall get Germany, I am going to pick Freiburg or Heilderberg. But they asked me to fill in 3 choices so I put Rostock as well.
One month prior to my scheduled exchange month, I got the invitation letter from Freiburg. This gonna be a really packed July and a month of travelling. Freiburg is a first choice with a reason.


Munster in Freiburg

What?

I am thinking of going for IFMSA exchange

What's that?

Explains.

You sure you want to do that?
You are going there alone???
You are so brave.
You must tell us about it after you come back.


I know this is what I really want to do.
I took the leap.
Dealed with the procedures with below average knowledge about them. The main thing for me is where I want to go so I just dig about the places.
Spent 4 wonderful weeks and one last not so wonderful week.
Came back leaner, darker and hopefully wiser an smarter XD